Creating the movie audience

Edward Jay Epstein has an interesting piece in Slate about the decline in movie attendance, and the new model employed by studios to fill seats. It seems that once entertainment became more home based, studios had to turn movies into heavily-advertised, word of mouth "events." In other words, instead of creating a movie, you create an audience. It's interesting to say the least, and it helps to explain why so many people go to the movies, and yet so few have anything to say about them.